Canella winterana (L.) Gaertn.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Canellaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Small tree or shrub to 6 m tall; bark dark brown, with numerous lenticels, aromatic, spicy. Leaf blades 3-10.5 x 2-4 cm, oblanceolate, obovate, or oblong, coriaceous, glabrous, the apex obtuse or rounded, the base attenuate, the margins entire; petioles 0.4-1 cm long. Flowers fleshy; calyx green, bell-shaped, with 3 free, rounded, 3 mm long sepals; corolla reddish, with 5 ovate petals, 4.5-6 mm long, united at base; stamens 10, as long as the corolla, the staminal tube red, the anthers yellow; ovary of 2 locules with 2 ovules each, the style short, the stigmas truncate. Fruit globose, turning from green to red or purple, 6-10 mm diam. Seeds 4, nearly globose, 5-6 mm long, black.
Distribution and Ecology - Common along moist coastal forests. Cruz Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A2936), Maho Bay Quarter along North Shore Road (A2841). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, and St. Thomas; southern Florida, the West Indies, and northern South America.
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Discussion
Common names: caneel, pepper cinnamon, white bark, wild cinnamon